A BIRMINGHAM refugee, living under the threat of deportation, has told of her agonisingly long wait for news.

Sri Lankan born Olivia Senaratne has been providing 24-hour care for frail Bert Reynolds, aged 93, in exchange for board and lodgings at his home on Adrian Croft, Moseley.

Olivia, a devout Christian, aged 60, claims she was forced to leave her four children and five grandchildren after enduring nearly 20 years of domestic violence at the hands of her alcoholic, ex-military policeman husband.

She fled to the UK where she was taken in by Weoley Castle churchgoers and then eventually ended up caring for both Bert and his wife Iris, who was blind, severely diabetic and bed-ridden, before she died in January.

More than 100 members of St Agnes Church in Moseley had launched a campaign to force a Home Office U-turn but Olivia was twice served deportation orders because she could not provide evidence of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her alcoholic husband.

In September 2007, she was taken to Yarl’s Wood Removal Centre in Bedfordshire and then Heathrow Airport before a last-minute reprieve was granted.

She is now waiting for news from via solicitor as the Home Office reviews her case.

Friend and neighbour Phillippa Cheong said Olivia, who has never claimed a penny in benefits, is on “tenterhooks.”

Ms Cheong said: “Olivia is very worried about her future. She does not want to return to Sri Lanka.

“Recently she heard from her daughter in Sri Lanka who said that her husband is still looking for her and making threats against her family if they were to allow her to visit or stay with them. Olivia would very much like to work but cannot, even voluntarily, until her case has been heard by the Home Office.”